This indie game is all about saving indie devs (from aliens)

The retro 'Shooter-Vania' was inspired by the NES cult hit The Guardian Legend.

The Indie Game Legend was originally created in 2011 and released for free on the TIGSource forums. Six years later, a friend of the developer began experimenting with a first-person take on the project, leading them to team up to develop a larger-scale release. And thus was born The Indie Game Legend 3D, an NES-style first-person action-adventure in which you, the intrepid hero, must rescue five indie game developers from the clutches of a hostile alien race, that's now available in Early Access on Steam.

"Immerse yourself in this nostalgic, colorful, and quirky handcrafted FPS as you uncover the secrets and lore of a retro world that blurs the line between game and reality. In the process, enter the storied and autobiographical psyche of an independent game developer facing their inner demons while battling the challenges of making games for the love of the medium," explained developers Phubansoft and Progrium Games—also known as Paul Hubans and Jeff Lindsay.

"Inspired by the NES cult hit The Guardian Legend and other classic titles, The Indie Game Legend 3D provides a fresh lens to what a classic 8-bit game might look like through the eyes of the player character."

The game will put players through more than 200 rooms spread across nine "distinctly themed areas," each cluttered with puzzles, enemies, and dangerous traps. Hidden shops sell weapons, equipment, and upgrades, and naturally there are all sorts of secrets and Easter eggs to discover as well. Multiple endings are available, and "your commander is a hairless guinea pig," a point that's important enough to make it onto the "features" bullet list, but I honestly have no idea what it means.

The Indie Game Legend 3D is $9/£6/€7 on Steam Early Access, with five of the nine planned biomes available to play in. The developers expect to have it ready for full release in 3-4 months, and said that the full version will be priced roughly 50 percent higher than the currently Early Access release. Find out more at indiegamelegend.com.